A CTSA One Health Alliance (COHA) survey of clinical trial infrastructure in North American veterinary institutions.

While a necessary step toward enhancing rigor and reproducibility of veterinary clinical trials conducted on the translational spectrum includes understanding the current state of the field, no broad assessment of existing veterinary clinical trial resources has been previously conducted. Funded by a CTSA One Health Alliance (COHA) pilot award, the goal of this project was to conduct an electronic survey of North American Veterinary Colleges regarding practices in veterinary clinical trial review, approval, conduct, and support in order to identify opportunities to leverage existing resources and develop new ones to enhance the impact of veterinary and translational health research.A total of 30 institutions were invited to participate in the survey and the survey response rate was 73 %. The most common source of funding noted for veterinary clinical research was industry (33 %); however, respondents reported that only 5 % (3.7-11.0) of studies were FDA-regulated. Respondents indicated that most studies (80 %); conducted at their institution were single site studies. Study review and approval involved the IACUC either solely, or in combination with a hospital review board, at 95.5 % of institutions. Workforce training related to clinical research best practices was variable across institutions. Opportunities were identified to strengthen infrastructure through harmonization of clinical research review and approval practices. This might naturally lead to expansion of multi-site studies. Based on respondent feedback, future workforce development initiatives might center on training in the specifics of conducting FDA-sponsored research, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), clinical study budget design, grants management, adverse event reporting, study monitoring and use of electronic data capture platforms.

The Challenge of "Fixing the Debt": Recommendations from the Summit.

With education debt repayment taking up a significant amount of veterinarians' salaries, for a significant time into the working years, concern has been building that the current debt to starting salary ratio in the veterinary profession is not sustainable. The current ratio is 1.99:1, but it can be significantly higher for students who attend schools as an out-of-state resident. In April, 180 people concerned about this issue gathered at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine for a Fix the Debt Summit, which focused on actions that would reduce this ratio to a more sustainable level. Attendees were students; new graduates; those working in veterinary academia; employers of veterinarians; and those affiliated with the profession, such as professional associations. As solutions were proposed, participants also committed to taking action within their field of influence.

Retrospective analysis of survey data relating to the employment conditions of Canadian veterinary graduates for the years 2008 to 2013.

Six years of survey data generated from the "Annual New Graduate Survey" were collated and analyzed for trends. Canadian veterinary colleges graduated 14.9% more veterinarians in 2013 than 2008; 79.3% of graduates were female and this percentage was similar across all colleges (P = 0.51). The average base salary for new graduates remained constant at ~$69 000/annum for the years 2011 to 2013. However, the mean base salary of those employed in western Canada and Ontario was higher than that of employees in Quebec and the Maritimes (P < 0.001). There were no differences in the base salaries paid to males and females (P = 0.18) nor in what small animal, food animal, and equine practices were paying new graduates (P = 0.94). The 3 most common employee benefits were: a continuing education allowance, paid licensing fees, and paid malpractice insurance premiums.

Analyse rétrospective des données de sondage relatives aux conditions d'emploi des diplômés en médecine vétérinaire canadiens pour les années de 2008 à 2013. Six années de données de sondage recueillies dans le cadre du «Sondage annuel auprès des finissants¼ ont été colligées et analysées pour déceler des tendances. Les collèges de médecine vétérinaire canadiens ont produit 14,9 % plus de vétérinaires en 2013 par rapport à 2008; 79,3 % des diplômés étaient des femmes et ce pourcentage était semblable dans tous les collèges (P = 0,51). Le salaire de base moyen pour les finissants est demeuré constant à ~69 000 $/année de 2011 à 2013. Cependant, le salaire de base moyen des diplômés embauchés dans l'Ouest canadien et l'Ontario était supérieur à celui des employés au Québec et dans les Maritimes (P < 0,001). Il n'y avait pas de différences dans les salaires de base versés aux hommes et aux femmes (P = 0,18), ni dans les salaires versés aux finissants par les pratiques pour petits animaux, celles pour animaux destinés à l'alimentation et les pratiques équines (P = 0,94). Les trois avantages sociaux les plus fréquemment offerts aux employés étaient : une indemnité de formation continue, le paiement des frais de permis et les primes de l'assurance pour faute professionnelle.(Traduit par Isabelle Vallières).